Charles Epps never played this bugle. It was given to him to say thank you.

Charles had cycled around Croydon after First World War air raids. He sounded the all clear on a bugle as he went to let people know they were safe.

Doris Bray

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Doris Bray

Doris describes taking cover in an air raid:

"I can remember the maroons going off when there was an air raid. We used to be in bed and you'd hear the boom, boom.

Mother would rush you upstairs and stick you under the table, and it would be a zeppelin coming over."

Facing Zeppelin Attacks

Zeppelins were huge German airships. They were used to drop bombs during the First World War. British people had never had to face bombs at home before and there was widespread panic.

One night in 1915 a zeppelin dropped 18 bombs on Croydon. By the end of 1916 over 550 British people had been killed by the zeppelins.British fighter pilots and gunners fought back and brought many zeppelins down. The raids stopped in June 1917.

To Find Out More

To find out more about the Zeppelin Raid of October 1915on Croydon you can visit the Research Room to view:

*Books such as Croydon in the Great War by Keathley Moore and Berwick Sayers *Ephemera Box on the Zeppelin Raid

The Research Room is on the Lower Ground Floor of the Croydon Clocktower and is openTuesday-Saturday10.30-5.

The Zeppelin Raid of 1915 is also talked about in the new Museum of Croydon First World War object handling

session for schools.

To find out more information please emailmuseumeducation@croydon.gov.uk.